Leinster SHC semi-final: St Martin’s 0-21 Naas 0-11
St Martin’s stamped their authority all over this AIB Leinster Club Hurling Championship semi-final at Chadwicks Wexford Park on Sunday. They had reason to be jumpy after a terrific win in the last round to eliminate All-Ireland champions Na Fianna, as they had yet to reach a provincial final in five previous attempts.
On top of that, Naas had been evolving impressively as serial recent Kildare champions, who had lost to Martin’s by just five points last season.
In truth, though, there was little to recommend this as a contest. The Wexford champions are regarded as having picked up momentum since last year’s narrow defeat by eventual winners Na Fianna, whereas Naas were weakened without county star James Burke, absent with a long-term injury.
The match played out in keeping with these assessments. Martin’s took the lead after 45 seconds and apart from a brief moment’s parity in the third minute, led all the way to the final whistle by a carefully curated double-digit margin.
RM Block
The scoreline developed in unequal increments – 0-3 to 0-1, 0-9 to 0-2, 0-13 to 0-3 – and it became obvious pretty quickly that the match was heading in only one direction.
Rory O’Connor was again the hammer. His 14 points were diluted by just two wides and although 11 came from placed balls, his three from play were quality scores.
Manager Daithí Hayes paid tribute to O’Connor and the contribution of his surrounding forwards.
“I suppose Rory’s been one of our main men within the club and county for the last number of years and just for him, it’s great to get to Croke Park with his club, but he’s not out there on his own either,” said Hayes.
“He has great support there with Barry and Jack, Darren, Mikey working extremely hard and Jake there as well. So, as a unit, they all work really well together and more importantly, they work really hard and I think that’s the key to it.”
The first half quickly settled into the decisive pattern. St Martin’s were quicker to the ball and more combative. They also had a range of threats up front. As usual, Rory O’Connor was the main contractor on the scoreboard but cousin Barry was initially a wrecking ball on the inside line, causing trouble for Rian Boran – dispatched from the start to mark him – and drawing frees.
The Wexford champions were also sharper and more likely to emerge from the rucks. Everywhere, they competed for possession, unwilling to treat any ball as a lost cause. This positive outlook was encouraged by the occasionally uncertain touch of Naas players.
As their manager referenced, the winners’ work rate was off the charts. All of those turnovers were the result of dogged persistence, tackling, blocking and hooking.
Throughout, the three O’Connors in attack presented a threat that Naas could neither counter nor match at the other end. Nearly every score bore the fingerprints of one of them.
Jack Sheridan ploughed a lone furrow up front for the Kildare champions. Hayes mentioned that if Sheridan had converted an early goal chance, “it might have been a different game”. As it turned out, Sheridan’s frees and the early point from play that had briefly threatened a green flag were all that was keeping the scoreboard ticking for them.
Although he also shot a few wides, they were largely because he was straining to get scores in the face of an expanding deficit. In the 46th minute, he had to go for goal from a free, but Callum Quirke saved well and corner back Joe Barrett completed the clearance.
Naas did appear to get to the pitch of the match better after half-time. They turned over fewer possessions, won more rucks and had the benefit of a strong wing. However, while Martin’s used the wind to build a 10-point half-time lead, their opponents managed only to break even in the second half.
Frees gave Rory O’Connor ample opportunity to rein in any runs on the scoreboard after Nass restarted well with two successive points.
Boran also got to grips with Barry O’Connor, who has been such an impactful presence for the Wexford club, but his manager commended the latter’s overall input.
“Barry was probably on a good bit of ball in the first five to 10 minutes alright and to be fair, the Borans are really good hurlers and really good man-markers and they did a good job on Barry.
“Thankfully for us, that just opened up space for other forwards then to use that. His work was phenomenal again, and once he’s always working hard and trying, he was winning frees as well.”
With the scoreline staying resolutely out of Naas’s reach, Martin’s maintained their focus. As late as injury-time, Aaron Maddock was flinging himself at Brian Byrne to deflect a goal attempt out for a 65. His fired-up response spoke eloquently about the team’s attitude, even with an 11-point lead and time nearly up.
As county intermediate football champions, they had taken the decision to field a weakened side in Leinster the previous week and sustained a shellacking from Westmeath counterparts Tubberclair. Asked if Martin’s had been justified, Hayes said it was a panel decision.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t even say it’s justification for that. I suppose when we came into the dressingroom after the Na Fianna game, there was five or six lads queuing to get into the physio, there was another three or four lads patching themselves up themselves and there was three or four lads just literally flat-out on the ground because they were spent of energy.
“We had 12 or 13 on the football team and we just made a decision as a management and as a squad, which is important. What we’re going to do is rest the footballers next weekend and, to be fair, the lads that went up there put in a big effort.”
They head for Croke Park in a fortnight, Wexford’s first representative in a provincial final since Oulart-The Ballagh 10 seasons ago. They must face the chosen ones of Leinster hurling, Ballyhale Shamrocks, but they’ll be there.
ST MARTIN’S: C Quirke; E O’Leary, C Firman (capt.), P Dempsey; D O’Leary (0-1), J Barrett, D Waters; David Codd, A Maddock (0-1); Darren Codd, J O’Connor (0-3, 1s), J Firman; M Coleman (0-1), B O’Connor (0-1), R O’Connor (0-14, 9f, 2 65s). Subs: B Maddock for David Codd (30 mins), B Stafford for Coleman (54 mins), P O’Connor for E O’Leary (58 mins), M Codd for D O’Leary (60 mins), S Audsley for Darren Codd (62 mins).
NAAS: C Gallagher; L O’Reilly, R Boran, P O’Donoghue; D Guerin, H Carroll, R Kelly; E O’Brian, S Leacy; K Harrington, C Boran (0-1), C Sheridan; J Sheridan (0-8m 5f, 2 65s), M Purcell (0-1), B Byrne (capt; 0-1). Subs: R Hogan for Purcell (half-time), C Dowling for C Sheridan (45 mins), F Maher for Harrington (53 mins), K Whelan for O’Brian (60 mins).
Referee: T Gleeson (Dublin).
